A DRINK driver sped the wrong way down a dual-carriageway in a bid to shake off pursing police officers.

Jonathan Lee Jones, 31, drove along the Wrexham to Mold Road in the wrong lane - with the police following alongside in the correct lane.

He eventually crashed his VW Passatt after what was described as a dangerous high speed chase.

Jones, of Long Lane, Brynteg, Wrexham, told how he panicked when he saw the police blue lights because he had been drinking.

He had drunk eight pints of lager, was familiar with the local area and thought he could “lose” the police.

But the longer the chase went on the more scared he was of stopping, he explained.

Jones, who blew a reading of 83 microgrammes of alcohol in his breath, compared to the legal limit of 35, was made the subject of an interim driving ban.

At Wrexham Magistrates Court, sitting at Mold on Friday, he was committed to the crown court for sentence after he admitted dangerous driving and drink driving following the early morning chase in the Gwersyllt and Wrexham area on February 12.

Prosecutor Wyn Jones said the chase lasted between 15 and 20 minutes.

At 1.35am officers saw the car in Mold Road, Gwersyllt, and initially Jones pulled over near a supermarket car park.

But when the officers got out of their car to approach, he sped off, travelling through Gwersyllt and Bradley and back to Gwersyllt, mainly through 30 mph restricted areas, at high speed.

He slid sideways into a roundabout forcing another vehicle to swerve and drove towards Cefnybedd travelling the wrong way down the dual-carriageway. He travelled about 300 metres in the wrong direction but fortunately there was not much traffic about, said Mr Jones.

He then braked sharply, span back 180 degrees and drove back along the A541 towards Gwersyllt in the correct lane.

The chase continued into Wrexham when he went the wrong way around traffic islands, he later went the wrong way down a dual-carriageway, again for a short period, and went over a fly-over on the wrong side of the road.

Jones drove over a grassed area to try and get away from the police, the vehicle was losing traction because of a puncture, and eventually he brought the car to a halt in Bryn Rhedyn.

Magistrates said it was so serious the case would have to be sentenced in the crown court. He was bailed pending his appearance at Mold Crown Court in April.